Quebec City fire report doesn’t explain why family had to jump four storeys: lawyer

QUEBEC CITY – When the ladder on a Quebec City fire truck broke during a fire in January, a family of three was forced to jump four storeys to escape death.

Since the incident, the family’s lawyer, Dominique Bertrand, has been asking why firefighters didn’t do more to try and rescue them.

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She insists a recent fire report on what happened that night provides few answers.

Nathalie Chicoine broke 50 bones in her body when she, her 10-year-old son and her partner were forced to jump from their burning fourth floor apartment.

She is likely to live the rest of her life in chronic pain, explained Bertrand.

“They were screaming ‘we are suffocating, please help us. We are dying, please, please.’ So, you can understand the panic and no firemen were telling them to calm down,” Bertrand said.

The lawyer received a copy of the report, which was commissioned by the Quebec City fire department.

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Bertrand told Global News she’s shocked by how few details it contained, claiming the investigator didn’t speak to her clients.

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Bertrand said she also has concerns about what firefighters said happened after the truck ladder broke.

“They said in their report that there was a Plan B to go and get a ladder with something to hook onto the window, but the ladder wasn’t in the truck,” she explained, adding the second ladder was still at the fire station.

“So during this time, the people were still stuck in the fire, you understand? So, it doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t work. There was no Plan B.”

The Quebec City fire department told Global News it wouldn’t discuss the case or the report, citing an ongoing lawsuit.